


you’ve begun to feel like home

by refusetoshine



Category: CSI: NY
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Not Canon Compliant, Season/Series 06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28726704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/refusetoshine/pseuds/refusetoshine
Summary: Stella’s upcoming departure for New Orleans and some cryptic words lead Mac to make a decision.
Relationships: Stella Bonasera/Mac Taylor
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	you’ve begun to feel like home

**Author's Note:**

> I have wanted to try and do a fix it for Stella leaving for quite some time. Yes, over 10 years later, I am still not over it. Mac and Stella were my first real OTP and I guess that’s just something you never get over. 
> 
> The title of this fic comes from “Look After You” by The Fray which I have long associated with Mac and Stella.

From the moment she walked into his office, Mac knew that something was bothering Stella. Over the years, he’d gotten to know his partner’s nervous habits. Right now, she was pulling at the tip of her ring finger, one of the more obvious tells. 

“What’s going on, Stell?”

She looked at him and gave a small half-smile, another sign of her growing anxiety. 

“I got the job,” she replied.

Mac froze.

“The one in New Orleans?” he asked, praying silently that his detective senses were wrong for once.

She nodded in response.

“With everything that’s gone on this year, I think I need a change.”

This past year had been hell on the whole team, from Jessica’s death, the subsequent shooting in the bar and then, most recently, Lindsay’s encounter with Shane Casey. Despite his heart screaming otherwise, Mac could understand Stella’s thinking. It didn’t lessen the fact that he felt like he’d been punched in the gut.

“Couldn’t you do that here?”

Stella gave Mac a sad look. 

“I’ve lived in New York my whole life,” she explained, “But it just doesn’t feel like home to me. Not anymore.”

Stella turned from him then and left the office. Mac was left there to collect his thoughts. 

———

Mac tossed and turned that night. Not an altogether uncommon experience for him, much to Stella’s chagrin. However, she wasn’t usually the reason for it. Her words kept replaying over and over again in his mind.

_”It doesn’t feel like home to me. Not anymore.”_

Mac was trying to figure out just what she meant by those words. Obviously, Stella had thought of New York as home at one point or she wouldn’t have added that last part. In fact, Mac could recall that just over a year ago, after the death of her mentor he had asked her whether she’d wanted to stay in Greece a bit longer. She’d looked at him with those impossibly green eyes and smiled.

 _”Take me home,”_ had been her response. 

Mac smiled at the memory. That impromptu trip to Greece had changed both of them. It had been there, on the streets of Thessaloniki that he had realized he was completely and irrevocably in love with Stella Bonasera. When she’d read his coffee grounds in the office after they’d returned, it had taken all his willpower not to kiss her right then and there. 

He sighed in frustration. Mac had never been one to express his feelings openly, but after Jessica’s death, he had decided that Stella was worth the risk. Before he’d been able to say any of the things he had planned however, they had been shot at. After that, Mac had built up a lot of the walls that Stella had helped tear down after Claire’s death. After that, things stayed status quo between the two of them, although she seemed a lot more distant than before.

The last time Mac could remember things feeling a little more normal, it was the past Christmas. After they’d delivered presents to the kids, Mac had walked Stella back to her apartment. They’d chatted along the way and when they’d reached her building, he’d watched her for a moment. In the combination of the moonlight and the snow softly falling, she had never looked more beautiful to him. 

_”Mac? What is it?”_ she’d asked him.

Mac had known he’d been caught, but he had chickened out and had made up some story about being tired. She’d given him a strange look but didn’t question it. Then they’d parted ways with a good night. 

Suddenly, realization dawned on Mac. He remembered that Stella had seemed sort of sad at the end of that night, but at the time, he hadn’t realized why. Now, it hit him like a freight train going full speed.

Stella was in love with him too.

More memories flooded into his mind and as they did, Mac was flabbergasted that he hadn’t noticed things earlier. Still, he knew that Stella would be hesitant to make the first move. She was so cognizant of his unwillingness to be pushed in romantic matters. Realizing this made him love her even more.

Mac glanced at the clock and made a decision. 

———

Mac took a breath in before rapping on the door. He heard footsteps approach, followed by the locks shifting on the other side. 

“Mac? What is it?” she asked upon opening the door.

This time, Mac was determined to say everything his heart had kept locked up for the past year.

“You said that New York didn’t feel like home earlier,” he replied, “At least, not anymore.”

She nodded, a puzzled look overcoming her features. He took a breath in.

“I think I know how to fix that.”

Mac stepped towards Stella and gently brushed a stray curl behind her ear. His hand moved to cup her cheek. 

“Please don’t go,” he pleaded before pressing his lips to hers.

Mac could feel her sigh against his lips. Stella kissed him back with a passion that took him by surprise, pulling him into the apartment. The door closed behind them with a thud, which caused them both to jump and their lips to part.

Her green eyes met his blue ones and he realized that he had been mistaken all those months ago. _This_ Stella was the most beautiful he had even seen.

“Take me home, Mac,” she whispered softly. 

Mac grinned and pressed his lips to hers again and in that moment, two hearts found where they belonged. 


End file.
